Romney tries to regain momentum with new focus on Obama’s ‘political payoffs’

[alp227]

Source: Washington Post

Trying to shift the presidential campaign narrative away from his personal finances and tenure at Bain Capital, Republican Mitt Romney will launch a fresh assault this week accusing President Obama of political cronyism at the expense of middle-class workers.

In a coordinated offensive starting Monday, the Romney team and its allies will say that the president has been a “typical politician” and has demonstrated “systematic favoritism” toward top campaign fundraisers by lavishing them with federal appointments and their companies with taxpayer money and special government deals, according to campaign officials.

All year on the stump, Romney has broadly labeled Obama a “crony capitalist,” but aides said the presumptive GOP nominee will deliver the attack to voters in a sharper and more substantive and sustained manner beginning at a Tuesday rally in Pennsylvania.

The overall effort, under the branding “Obama’s Political Payoffs and Middle Class Layoffs,” will highlight alleged administration favoritism toward more than 200 Obama donors.

(...)

Obama campaign officials see this as a weak line of attack, in part because, they said, Romney played favorites by steering tax breaks to some companies over others as governor of Massachusetts.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/romney-tries-to-regain-momentum-with-new-focus-on-obamas-political-payoffs/2012/07/15/gJQAXgScnW_singlePage.html

[TomCADem]

1. Yeah, What About The Hundreds of Millions That Adelson and the Koch Brothers Alone...

...Have pledged to dump into his campaign?

Oh wait, that's Romney.

[Drunken Irishman]

2. That's it?!?

[spin]

3. By the time this Presidential campaign ends ...

everyone will be sick of politics for good reason. It's just beginning and it will get far worse before it ends.

I personally fear that this will be a nasty mud fight from now until the election. The debates could be a real cage match.

[Drunken Irishman]

6. meh...this is no different than any other presidential campaign...

Every four years, someone claims this is the dirtiest, nastiest presidential campaign in U.S. history and it really isn't true. Four years ago, I think it was much nastier with Rev. Wright, Weather Underground, secret shit about Obama being a Muslim. This year? Not so much.

[tridim]

17. Except this year we have Citzen's United

It's going to be brutal, and IMO the public is going to be disgusted with it.

I think it'll end up being a huge negative for the GOP.

[Igel]

26. And pretty much every year we have some politician

who says how awful it is and that he, of course, is better than that.

[sendero]

14. I've long since given up expecting any different..

.... because the American people love a good mud fight and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Policy is "hard work" and most Americans don't have any idea where we should be going as a nation. Most get their opinions from talk radio based on nothing but a lot of vindictive misinformation. By definition, a political race in America is going to devolve to mud slinging, innuendo, misrepresentation and general nastiness.

I just hope Obama is up to the challenge. So far, this season it looks like he is actually getting it. The high road leads to nowhere in America.

[Politicalboi]

4. They're actually going to use

The word Layoffs.

And who do we associate with the word layoffs? You have some real good people working for ya Mitt.

[RedStateLiberal]

5. Why this is really a weak attack.

These so-called "cronies" are all green and alternative energy companies and investors. Obama campaigned for president in '08 promising investment in green jobs so, of course, some of his donors are those who would benefit from that kind of investment - just like Rmoney campaigns on drilling more so he gets big oil money.

Obama fulfilled a promise to begin ending our dependence on foreign oil with these kind of technologies. They will be reminding the voters of this fact plus a "payoff" implies you're giving someone money that they don't deserve so only those (wingnuts) who think we shouldn't be making these investments at all will see this as a payoff. Also, there are not a lot of alt energy companies out there to invest in so obviously some who donated to Obama will get loans and contracts. Unless they have documented evidence they are just fishing and trying to give the appearance of corruption.

In summary:
Obama campaigns on green jobs so alternative energy companies give him money.
Obama becomes president, keeps his promise by investing in alternative energy, so some of those companies get money.
That's really all there is to this pathetic attempt to change the subject by Rmoney.

[nxylas]

8. Well, in principle, there's no difference between that an any other type of cronyism

Lobbyists donate to a political campaign and get kickbacks in return. But for Romney to use that as a line of attack brings to mind a certain saying about glass houses and stones.

[DCBob]

12. Except that the purpose was to help the country not help himself.

I think this attack is going to fall flat.

[RedStateLiberal]

23. Only if there's a quid pro quo

Or in other words, if you give me campaign cash then I'll make sure you get this gov't money. There is no evidence of that - only the appearance of cronyism, so that's why they're going with this attack. I guess the Obama admin could have made sure nobody who donated gets the loans but, like I mentioned, there are not that many alt energy companies out there so I believe they chose based on the companies merits. Of course, those who hate Obame will assume that they chose based on who donated to his campaign because they always assume the worst.

[nxylas]

24. It's not a question of "hating Obama"

The whole political system is so rotten and in need of reform that it's easy to look at a case like this and think that, well, compared to what the Republicans are doing, it's not so bad. But I'd rather get big money out of politics altogether, even if it does come from a company doing good work.

[RedStateLiberal]

25. I agree with you

Get money out of politics. I was pointing out that only Obama haters will like this line of attack from Rmoney because they don't need hard evidence, but you may be right. People who are disillusioned with politics and the role of money might fall for it too.

[cstanleytech]

7. Well mitt does know all about doing things at the expense of middle class workers, he has done

enough of it himself after all.

[underpants]

9. “crony capitalist,” has been a RW radio talking point for 3 years - obviously a diversion from W's

at least that was what I thought it was. They are using this in the campaign?

[Paulie]

11. Haven't they also said Obama is a socialist?

And a communist? Or do they claim he's a three???

[Festivito]

10. Great way for us to bring up his quiet governorship.

And, how did he handle that issue .. by .. destroying his emails?

[JoePhilly]

13. Republicans LOVE "Crony Capitolism" ... so it makes a rather weak attack to level itat a "Socialist"

[KurtNYC]

15. So they are going to point out that Obama paid back his small donors with ACA?

That he wants to repeal the Bush tax cuts as a political payoff to the voters who asked him to do so?

Thank you team Romney! Next could you point out that Obama was very mean and impolite to Osama bin Laden and paid HIM back for 911 ?

[Javaman]

16. He first had to have "momentum" in order to "regain" it. nt

[truthisfreedom]

18. Wake me when rMoney starts leading from the front

because he ain't leadin' nothin' now.

[Iliyah]

19. Pres O's campaign

will turn it around against the GOP and thats how you fight these nasty s.o.b.s

[L0oniX]

20. The whole Bush team got laid off ...Obama kills jobs.

[hip is everything]

21. lame, really lame mittens ...

same old "projection" tactics that the right wing always employs ...
and I predict that it will backfire just as fast and just as bad as it always does ...
and Rmoney is the king of grabbing a good idea and blowing it up in his own face ...
sometimes I wonder if he's placed a multi-gazillion dollar bet on Obama winning the election and now he's just trying to make sure he wins that bet ... but then i realize that, nope, he's just kinda stupid when it comes to understanding how the rest of the human population sees things and reacts to them ... but, that said, that's not entirely surprising considering how little/few human characteristics the rombot seems to have ... and seeing as he's never really met or spent any time with the human population, i guess this is how it will probably continue to play out.

[progressivebydesign]

22. Meh. Romney's people are campaigning like it's the 90s.

They remind me of people on a sinking ship who are arguing over the place cards for the dinner table.

The problem Rmoney has is that ANYTHING he tries like that, unless it's to Hedge Fund Operators or racists, is that it falls flat because Rmoney's ENTIRE career has been all about screwing the working folks in America. He has zero credibility. Unless you're one of those people I mentioned above, you are seeing those ads and saying "yeah, right... you have a lot of nerve to say that, considering what you've done."

I seriously think that he's running his campaign like a corporation, complete with a bunch of out of touch white men in their 60s coming up with this stuff.

[SDjack]

27. rMoney may not want his partners to see his tax files. He may have

taken off-the-book payoffs (commissions) from Chinese companies or agencies to target specific companies for Bain to buy-and-ship. Did you do that Mittens? Are you afraid for your partners to see your tax files?

[Fozzledick]

28. When Romney was governor of Massachusetts

he purged the state government of professional civil servants who were doing critical public service jobs and replaced them with his own political cronies who saw their positions as just no-work paychecks with all the perks he could squeeze out of the state treasury.

I think we need some stir-fry sauce for this hypocritical gander.

[bongbong]

29. Crony Capitalism

Oh, you mean like when billionaires get paid millions for not showing up at Bain, I mean work?

[Volaris]

30. So in other words, Mittens new campaign strategy will be Projection, and nothing else.

good call there, buddy.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

31. Republican voters will be confused

this think Obama is a communist, socialist but now Romnoid is calling him a capitalist!

[Enrique]

32. absolutely

calling Obama "typical" contradicts everything the RW has been spewing about him.